After what seemed like a an eternity since Purdue's last commitment, 6'8" 220 lb Jacob Lawson (Oak Ridge, North Carolina) became the first member of the 2011 class (joining Donnie Hale).
ESPN describes their take on Lawson's game:
"Lawson is a big active player who seems to glide down the floor and is a freak in transition usually finishing with a dunking flourish. Defensively this active youngster blocks numerous shots and goes after every attempt causing many alterations and bad misses. He rebounds like a fiend and offensively converts many of those into crowd pleasing dunks of sheer aggressiveness. Lawson has a massive upside and once he learns to avoid foul trouble willbe even more effective on the offensive side of the ball."
But you don't have to take ESPN's word for it, check out his athleticism yourself:
And if that didn't convince you of his abilities, check out this posterization:
Seeing that Lawson wasn't heavily recruited by Purdue until Dawson committed to MSU, we still have a lot to learn about him. We'll have more on Lawson's commitment and what it means to Purdue's future outlook later.
Lawson's commitment also means that there is only one(ish) scholarships remaining in the 2011 class. However, it's likely that Painter would only accept guard Chasson Randle for that final spot. Seeing that Purdue would be over-signed by one scholarship in the 2012 season if they bring in another recruit, Painter has a good reason to bank the scholarship if needed.
But the door will likely always be open for Randle, regardless of the scholarship situation.
Randle plans to visit his top three (Illinois, Purdue, and Stanford) this fall and make a decision shortly thereafter.